u8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



same time, and the telescope tube, -which is being made by Messrs. 

 Warner and Swasey, of Cleveland, will be ready in June, 1887. The 

 trustees only await the mounting of this instrument, to turn over the 

 observatory formally to the University of California. Meanwhile the 

 observatory, as it now stands, with a twelve-inch Clark equatorial, a six- 

 inch equatorial, a six-inch Repsold meridian circle, photographic in- 

 struments, clocks, chronometers, and all accessory apparatus, and an 

 extensive library, is far better equipped than most observatories, and 

 Professor Ilolden, with characteristic energy, has already begun an 

 extensive series of observations with the meridian instrument, and has 

 established a time-service for the benefit of the railroads connecting 

 with San Jose. 



This brief sketch merely attempts to outline Professor Holden's 

 career as an astronomer. His administrative experience and ability 

 were proved at Madison, and as a teacher he seems to have shown the 

 rare faculty of arousing the enthusiasm of his pupils. His general 

 interest in many matters outside of his profession may be seen by a 

 glance at the partial list of his writings which is appended. This bib- 

 liography I have made tolerably full, though by no means exhaustive ; 

 I have found nearly one hundred papers, etc., contributed to scientific 

 journals and transactions between the years 1873 and 1886 ; and the 

 titles that I have given will form in themselves an effective " sketch " 

 of his work. His life of Sir William Herschel should be referred to 

 especially : it has been published in London as well as in New York, 

 and has also been translated and published in Germany. A text-book 

 of astronomy, published in co-operation with Professor Newcomb, has 

 likewise been favorably received, and has passed through several 

 editions. 



In 1879 Professor Holden received the degree of A. M. from his 

 alma mater, and the University of Wisconsin has just conferred the 

 degree of LL. D. on its former professor. He is a member of the 

 California and Wisconsin Academies of Science, Fellow of the Amer- 

 ican Association for the Advancement of Science, member of the 

 Philosophical Society of Washington, and of the German Astrono- 

 mische Gesellschaft, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Science 

 of St. Louis, Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and 

 Sciences, Foreign Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society, and 

 member of the National Academy of Sciences. While at Madison he 

 was connected with Professor Raphael Pumpelly's Northern Trans- 

 continental Survey, as head of the Division of Climate and Rivers, and 

 in 1885 he served as a member of the Board of Visitors to the United 

 States Military Academy at West Point. 



